The Real Westworld - By C.A. Asbrey

The Real Westworld

By C.A. Asbrey

                                        Palisade Nevada Today

Present day visitors to the Nevada Ghost town of Palisade will find the place virtually deserted, but rich in history. You can still wander the streets and examine the creaking buildings which reflect the rich history. It was located in Eureka County, about ten miles south of Carlin, and was founded by silver miners scratching a living from the ore found in the surrounding hills. 

It was a relative success, rich enough to merit the opening of a post office in 1870, and it also got a railway station to transport out the silver with the completion of the transcontinental railway. However, the silver to ran out and the townsfolk were soon desperate for another source of income. 

It didn't take long before Palisade became known as one of the most violent cities in the West. Gunfights, bank robberies, and even marauding natives hit the town on a regular basis, and the antics were reported in newspapers all over the East. However, rather than being a place to avoid, this actually increased travel to the little town and very soon it became a must-see destination. This carried on form three long years and nobody managed to stop the spiraling cycle of violence or clean up the town, despite the pleadings of Newspaper editors. In fact, the reports only seemed to increase interest and even more people headed to Palisade to experience the rawness of the Wild West for themselves. The Eastern press couldn't get enough of the goings-on in this frontier town.  

                                           Palisade Nevada 1870

It all started one day when passengers got off the noon train to eat lunch. Frank West leaned against a corral fence when Alvin Kittleby approached. West saw him coming, stiffened, took his cigarette from his mouth and dropped it to the ground. He watched Alvin until the two were within range.

"There ya are, ya lowdown polecat!," screamed Al. "I've been waitin' for ya. I'm gonna kill ya for what ya done to my pore little sister!"

Frank remained mute and gave the meanest grin the passengers had ever seen, and quickly drew his revolver. Cocking it, he took careful aim and fired.

Kittleby clutched his chest, and dropped to the ground, writhing in pain until his life ebbed away. Only two or three seconds later his life ended.

Women screamed and fainted. Men ran in all directions, seeking shelter from the danger. Several approached poor Alvin's still body, gently picked him up, and carried the lifeless bundle to the nearest saloon. Others quickly disarmed West and dragged him, kicking and screaming, to the jail.

The battle took seconds must the impact lasted far longer for the frightened passengers. Lunch was abandoned and the climbed back into the cars. Some even crouched on floors and behind seats.

As soon as the train disappeared behind the first curve out of town, the people of Palisade began laughing and continued to enjoy themselves for three more years. This was their first performance, an act they put on for rail travelers more than one thousand times before tiring of the joke. 

The whole town was in on the drama and courted the attention to ensure they  were mentioned in dime novels and the press. Tourism was their new trade and their antics were bringing in much needed money the silver mines were failing to provide. West was a tall, good-looking cowhand from a nearby ranch and Kittleby was a deeply-religious resident agent and buyer for a cattle company.

           Palisade Canyon, during construction of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1868

Their productions flourished  growing grander and more spectacular. Sometimes there was a bank robbery with a noisy shootout between the sheriff, his posse, and the robbers. Another time local Shoshones were drafted to 'massacre' the townspeople, especially those near the depot. The massacre was a full-fledged production taking ten minutes and a gallon of beef blood from the slaughterhouse. Townsfolk who weren't directly involved with actually being a participant in the gun battles, bank robberies, Indian attacks, and what have you, helped out manufacturing blanks for the pistols and rifles by the thousands. But their job didn't stop there, they were to ones tasked with collecting the beef blood from the local slaughter house for the fake wounds and such.

During the three years Palisade people indulged in pretend violent episodes not one real crime was committed. In fact, the town was so law-abiding and peace-loving that the local Eureka County deputy had nothing to do. The town jail was only for show.

Truth was, joshing the emigrants traveling west was a common pastime and Palisade wasn't the only town doing it. Usually the actors were the boys from the saloons who concocted magnificent con jobs to rattle tourists. The showmen really embraced the stereotype and gave the Eastern dudes a taste of the West they'd read about. Some even travelled just to see it happen.  

On April 7, 1880, a westbound passenger train stopped in Elko. A few locals headed for the railway station. One ran over to the train conductor waving a fake telegraph message."I just received this from my brother who has a little spread a few miles this side of Carlin. He says the Indians have broken loose and are playing hell with the settlers at Blue Horse Gulch. They are scalping women and children and headed this way."

                        The Scene of the Crime - CPRR at Elko Nevada 1869

Train passengers, already infiltrated with locals, mobbed the two men asking them what they should do. One ran to the crowd and told them he and some companions had been captured by the Indians. He took off his hat, held it to his heart and declared half his group had been lost. He burst into tears and sobbed, "Poor little Jimmy! I saw him shot and scalped right before my eyes!"

Panicking passengers begged the conductor to delay the train in Elko until the Indian trouble was over but he pulled out his watch and told them the train had to proceed and that everyone should arm themselves for the expected confrontation.  

That did it. The passengers were ready to take over the train, even if by force. With a straight and serious face the conductor put on an arm-bending sales pitch promising he would back the train back to Elko at the first sign of Indian trouble. With his reassurance, the reluctant tourists climbed back into the cars and began cleaning and checking their weapons.

As the train pulled out of Elko the bunch relaxed into uncontrollable laughter. Scaring hell out of scores of tenderfeet from back east was excellent sport.

Even 20th century train passengers were not immune to high jinks by locals. In August 1902 hundreds of Knights of Pythius members headed for San Francisco for a national meeting.

One of the special convention trains was struck at Deeth, Nevada. In the words of one of the Knights when he reported the incident in Elko: "I've read a lot about the wild and wooly west, but this morning I witnessed the genuine article.

"Out there on the desert, at a little station called Deeth, we saw a man hanging from a telegraph pole. A placard on his coat stated that he had been hanged by vigilantes for stealing a horse.

"Then, while the train waited, a crowd of men rushed out of a saloon and fired their rifles at another crowd of cowboys, killing four of them.

"Then a number of Indians dressed in feathers and blankets, with war paint on, rode down the street, pointed their guns at the train and threatened to kill anyone who stuck his head out of a window. I tell you, Nevada is a lawless place!"

                             Knights of Phythias Membership Certificate 1890

Local Knights of Phythias planned the whole thing and kept the fictionalized Wild West alive for a few minutes that left a lot of traveling Knights with blanched faces as the train pulled out of Deeth.

Who started these hoaxes is still not clear but a consistent theme involves the conductors getting kickbacks for trains staying longer in towns where the passengers spent money, or on food (which was already paid for) being forgotten in the clamor for the safety of the carriage. 

So who was in on it? Well, by all accounts, the railroad conductors and engineers made sure they hit the train whistle ahead of time so that everyone could get into position. So it's for certain they were in on it. And yes, just about everyone was in on it, including the local townsfolk, the Indians, the U.S. Cavalry, and probably others.

One thing seems certain to me. Palisade certainly gave the passengers the most bang for their bucks.

It's all these amazing people and places which have influenced my writing and stimulated my imagination. I love it when fact is stranger than fiction.

The Innocents (The Innocents Mystery Series Book 1) by C.A. Asbrey @prairierosepubs #historicalmystery #theinnocentsmysteries

 ''The Innocents", by C.A. Asbreypublished by Prairie Rose Press is now available to buy.

Pinkerton Detective Abigail MacKay is a master of disguises—and of new crime-solving technology! But she’ll have to move fast to stay a step ahead of Nat Quinn and Jake Conroy.

Nat and Jake are the ringleaders of The Innocents, a western gang that specializes in holding up trains carrying payrolls—and Nat is pretty savvy when it comes to using the new sciences of 1868 in committing his crimes.

Charismatic Nat and handsome Jake are on the run, and they’ve always gotten away before—before Abi. But when Abi is caught by another band of outlaws during the chase, there’s no other choice for Nat and Jake but to save her life. Abi owes them, and she agrees to help them bring in the murderer of a family friend.

The web of criminal activity grows more entangled with each passing day, but Nat, Jake, and Abi are united in their efforts to find the murderer. Once that happens, all bets are off, and Abi will be turning Nat and Jake over to the law. But can she do it? She finds herself falling for Nat, but is that growing attraction real? Or is he just using her to learn more about the Pinkertons’ methods? Abi always gets her man—but she may have met her match in her “best enemies”—THE INNOCENTS.

EXCERPT


     “So, you want to pretend you’re a Pinkerton? As a female?” His eyes darkened. “I’ve questioned one before, although he didn’t know who I was. They’re trained real well on being both sides of interrogations. You don’t want to do this. Not as a woman. He had a real hard time. You’ll have it even harder.”
     She sat staring ahead once more, her face impassive and stony.
     “You’ve nothing to say?”
     Her eyes flashed. “Beating the hell out of me won’t change anything but my view of you.”
     Nat reached out and entwined a hard fist in her hair and dragged her backward until the chair balanced on the back legs. He brought his face close to hers, his hot breath burning into her cheek.  “Think harder, lady. This isn’t a game. Who are you?”
     Abigail felt the dragging pain at the back of her head as shards of pain lanced across her scalp. He held her, balanced between his painful grip and a clattering fall to the floor but her stubborn nature wouldn’t let her acquiesce.
     “Others will come after you, no matter what you do to me.” She darted her eyes to meet his, unable to move her pinioned head. “I won’t be the last.”

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